Sensex soars 537 pts; Nifty reclaims 11,400-mark

The BSE Sensex soared 537 points and the NSE Nifty reclaimed the 11,400 level on Friday in a broad-based rally led by banking and auto stocks ahead of exit poll results, despite global headwinds.

The 30-share BSE benchmark closed 537.29 points, or 1.44 per cent, higher at 37,930.77. It hit an intra-day high of 38,001.13 and a low of 37,415.36.

Similarly, the broader Nifty rose 150.05 points, or 1.33 per cent, to settle at 11,407.15. During the day, it hit a high of 11,426.15 and a low of 11,259.85.

In the Sensex pack, Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Auto ended up to 6.09 per cent higher after posting strong quarterly numbers.

Hero MotoCorp, Maruti, Kotak Bank, HDFC, HUL, M&M, HDFC Bank, ITC, ICICI Bank, Axis Bank, Coal India, SBI, IndusInd Bank and Asian Paints were also among the top gainers, rising up to 4.26 per cent.

On the other hand, Yes Bank, Vedanta, Infosys, HCL Tech, Sun Pharma, TCS and NTPC ended up to 2.36 per cent lower.

Investors lapped up banking and auto stocks, boosting key indices, ahead of the exit poll results scheduled for Sunday.

Broader indices followed the benchmarks, with the BSE mid-cap and small-cap indices settling in the green.

While Japanese stocks ended higher, bourses in China and Korea ended in the red amid the US-China trade conflict. European equities too opened significantly lower.

The Indian rupee depreciated by 16 paise to 70.20 against the US dollar intra-day.

Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.26 per cent higher at USD 72.81 per barrel.